Congressional investigators on Friday called on Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google to produce a sweeping list of financial records and business documents, opening a new chapter in a "top-to-bottom" antitrust review of the tech industry.

Many of u may know about the ‘World Economic Forum’ an independent, not-for-profit foundation striving towards a world-class corporate governance system with a motto of ‘entrepreneurship in the global public interest’… Wait a minute !! What does it have to do with Tech ? If that’s ur question, read the rest.

Every year, World Economic Forum (WEF) identifies technology companies whose innovations will have a critical impact on the future of business and society. These companies are some of the most innovative startups from around the world and are normally in their first rounds of financing. This year too World Economic Forum awarded many companies who it thinks have the potential of significantly disrupting the way business and society operate. So maybe that picture fits now to my tech theme, so let’s take a look at over the top 10 Technology Pioneers of 2010 and the impact it as on the future of business and society. At first look it may not sound that meaningful but if u are a net freak and have a buzz on how new tech is shaping the way we see and do things everyday, this makes a good list and a right place to be in my blog 🙂

Twitter

Twitter is a privately funded startup with offices in the SoMA neighborhood of San Francisco, CA. Started as a side project in March of 2006, Twitter has grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. In countries all around the world, people follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens-from breaking world news to updates from friends

Ushahidi

Ushahidi, which means “testimony” in Swahili, is a website that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008.

Ushahidi’s roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis. The website was used to map incidents of violence and peace efforts throughout the country based on reports submitted via the Web and mobile phone. This initial deployment of Ushahidi had 45,000 users in Kenya, and was the catalyst for us realising there was a need for a platform based on it, which could be use by others around the world.

StreamBase Systems

StreamBase Systems, the leader in high performance Complex Event Processing (CEP), provides software for rapidly building systems that analyse and act on real-time streaming data for instantaneous decision-making. StreamBase has developed a new class of software that enables organisations to quickly develop and deploy real-time applications that can generate millions of dollars in new profits and are deployed at a fraction of the cost and risk of alternatives.

Playfish

Playfish leads the social gaming industry in innovation and creativity with award-winning, category-defining games designed for friends to play together. To date, more than 150 million Playfish games have been installed and played by millions of people worldwide on platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, Google, Bebo, iPhone and Android.

Innovid

Innovid is a provider of In-Video Advertising solutions for online advertisers, publishers and content producers. The company’s In-Video platform combines the marketing value of product placement, which is enjoying a 30 per cent growth rate this decade in all electronic media, with the interactivity only possible on the Internet.

Amobee

Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Amobee is the first company to deliver a unified, telco-grade system for funding mobile content and communications through advertising revenues. The company has launched a new media system for ad-funding the entire mobile content and communication business.

Dilithium

Dilithium is the global provider of mobile video infrastructure solutions enabling multimedia services from any network to any device. The company’s hardware, software, and service solutions are used by many of the world’s largest service providers and content companies to create and distribute multimedia solutions that are changing the way people communicate.

CollabNet

CollabNet is the leader in application lifecycle management (ALM) platforms for distributed software development teams. CollabNet TeamForge is the industry’s most open ALM platform, supporting every environment, methodology, and technology.

amiando

amiando is the leading tool for online event organisation in Europe. Its platform serves over 70,000 events worldwide with products such as amiando Eventsites, amiando ViralTickets, amiando EasyEntry or amiando EventSense.

RingCentral

RingCentral provides cloud computing-based business phone systems. The company delivers on-demand phone systems that are designed for the modern mobile and distributed business world, at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, RingCentral is privately held with backing from Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures and DAG Ventures.

As i blogged earlier of the upcoming Apple iSlate, and now here it is official Apple PC tablet but the name is iPad 🙂 I am posting the exclusive videos of Unveiling Apple iPad: Steve Jobs Keynote Jan 27 2010

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

What do you think, another giant iPhone for your pocket or did macbook mate with iphone and then boom this iPad 🙂 let me know and yeah did i tell you it starts at $499 (lacks OLED, Flash, USP, GPS, Multitasking, keyboard, HDMI Input, Camera and even Verizon ;)) and will begin shipping in two months…

Some people prefer to be technical every place they go, then why not the Hotel they stay in. The days when high-tech rooms for hotels meant adding a kettle and alarm clock are long gone, with hotels realising guests want far more wizardry in their rooms. Did a simple research and was good to find AskMen who have come up with a list of the top 10 high-tech hotels. Here’s looking into hotels that have mixed luxury with technology, don’t blame me if you find u don’t find ur kind of geeky stuff here ;).

1) Helix Hotel, Abu Dhabi

The Helix Hotel is yet to be built but its hi-tech credentials come in the form of heat and energy conservation with state-of-the-art GROW panels, which harness energy from the sun and wind, to be affixed to the outside of the hotel. The temperature and humidity inside the 208-room hotel is set to be managed by a waterfall in the atrium. There will also be a giant glass wall that will periodically slide open, allowing a fresh sea breeze to blow in.

2) Hotel Sax, Chicago

Let me just say this about this Hotel, there’s the free Wi-Fi, massive wide-screen TVs, and the 6th floor Studio Lounge, free for all guests, where you can relax on big sofas or play Rock Band, Wii games and Guitar Hero. Guests each receive a laptop and Zune MP3 player for use during their stay. The hotel also has tech studios and tech suites.

3) Hotel 1000, Seattle

Besides innovative plumbing like water pouring from the ceiling to fill the bath, Hotel 1000 also boasts a “silent electronic doorbell” system — housekeeping staff push a button at your door which sets off an infrared scanner inside your room. If it detects any movement, an electronic “do not disturb” sign appears and the housekeeper knows to come back later.

4) The Peninsula Hotel, Tokyo

The Peninsula takes its tech so seriously that it even has an electronics service department. Rooms have Internet radio boasting 3,000 stations, mood lighting controls, and wireless phones with Skype capability that you can use throughout the hotel. Lastly, there’s a nail polish dryer too.

5) Blow Up Hall, Poznan, Poland

Blow Up Hall is a snazzy establishment described as an electronic art hotel. Renowned artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has created an intriguing video installation around which the design of the hotel is based. The moment you step inside, you’re a performer in the video being played in the lobby comprising 2,400 tiny images gathered from as many cameras inside the hotel. No keys or door numbers here, just iPhones. Every guest is supplied with an Apple phone which, through recognition tech, you use to gain access to your room. You can also use it to call your concierge, surf the Net and view preloaded local tourist info.

6) The Upper House, Hong Kong

All guests at this virtually paperless hotel are supplied with an iPod touch preloaded with games, music and everything you need to know about the hotel and its environs. There’s free and unlimited broadband access with even the hotel’s cars (Lexus RX450H hybrid models) equipped with Wi-Fi.

7) Mama Shelter, Paris

Once a parking garage and now a Philippe Starck-designed boutique hotel, Mama Shelter has a 24-inch iMac in each one of its 172 rooms. The iMac acts as your entertainment center, and there’s free Wi-Fi available too. Something else the rooms at Mama Shelter have that you won’t find in most other hotels is a microwave oven 🙂

8) Montage, Beverly Hills

A real practical feature for the guys — a fog-free shaving mirror in all bathrooms. The Montage this year became one of the first hotels in the world to receive gold-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for its use of, for example, energy efficient heating, lighting and air conditioning systems.

Targeted at the younger traveler, New York’s Pod Hotel has an in-house Pod Community Blog, open to those with reservations, that allows guests and guests-to-be to interact, ask questions and exchange information. The hotel is sure to satisfy the tech-hungry budget traveler with its free Wi-Fi, LCD flat screen TVs and iPod docking stations.

So next time don’t complain u don’t have a Wi-Fi setup in ur hotel room, just switch onto one of this :))

If you are following my tweets for past 2 weeks, you could have expected me to blog on 3D TVs and those who guessed it right, here it is the ‘Next Revolution in TV Viewing’, you can always expect my blog to be the first row bloggers on upcoming technology and this week I will brief you on what is 3D TV and 3D HDTV’s coming in 2010 to your nearest store. So sit back to read this exclusive insight to 3D Experience u will find it in your home in the coming months 😉

The era of the ‘Third Dimension’, seems to have finally arrived, enthralling audiences and challenging manufacturers. The year 2010 will see 3D TVs, which have largely been concepts so far, go mainstream. In fact, the recently-held CES saw a rage for 3D technology, with everything from 3D projectors to 3D glasses to 3D camcorders lapped up by the audience.

To be honest 3D Television is not a new concept at all it employs some technique of 3D presentation, such as stereoscopic capture, multi-view capture, or 2D plus depth, and a 3D display – a special viewing device to project a television program into a realistic three-dimensional field.
Occasional 3D episodes became moderately popular in the late 1990s when several shows used the technique to attract viewers and increase ratings.

So how does a 3D TV work ?

To see 3D, each eye needs to see a slightly different image, just like in real life. So a 3D TV uses a lenticular lenses assembled on top of the LCD-panel, to project a different image in your left and right-eye. Using both images, your brain then creates the 3D experience. 3D principle has been around for over 150 years (photo) and 80 years (film). Because of recent developments, it is now possible to provide a high-quality 3D experience without the need to wear special glasses. Other developments in technology boost developments in 3D, such as; availability of content in digital format, HD technology all over the place, and signal processing performance. This all will enable bringing 3D to mass markets, and could have an impact that is comparable with transition black and white to colour. It is known that in some cases people have difficulties to perceive depth. Nevertheless, even viewers who are not able to see 3D from stereoscopic images can still perceive and enjoy 3D while moving within the multi-views of the 3D displays.

What’s important is the content needs to be 3D. For these tools will be available to create 3D content from existing 3D animation software, games (OpenGL or DirectX applications), and stereoscopic video (two cameras)

Here’s a look into some of the cool products that promise to bring the 3D experience right into your living room:

Panasonic

Panasonic unveiled the world’s largest HD 3D Plasma display. Standing tall and slim at 150 inches in size, the 3D TV offers a 1080p HD 3D display. It was declared the winner in the ‘Best of CES’ category and also in ‘Best in Television’ category at CES.

The 3D TV from Panasonic comes with a pair of 3D shutter glasses with a battery life of 250 hours of viewing. The glasses automatically turn off in case they don’t detect signal from the emitters.

Panasonic 3D TV series include TC-P50VT20 (50 inch); TC-P50VT25 (50 inch); TC-P54VT25 (54 inch); TC-P58VT25 (58 inch); and TC-P65VT25 (65 inch).Panasonic also launched 3D Blu-ray player and a 3D camcorder as part of its home theater set. Panasonic TC-PVT25 series is set for a second quarter release.

Sony

The year 2010 will see a host of 3D TV launches from Sony in its popular Bravia range, Sony Bravia LX900 series. Sony 3D TV offers features like built–in wi-fi, intelligent presence sensor and the Edge LED backlight.

Sony, which has teamed up with IMAX and Discovery, also plans to launch a dedicated 3D TV channel. Sony has taken the 3D experience to gaming arena as well and says that users can play 3D games on a PS3 console. Sony 3D TV sizes include XBR-60LX900 (60 inch), XBR-52LX900 (52 inch), XBR-46LX900 (46 inch), and XBR-40LX900 (40 inch).

Toshiba

Toshiba seems to have taken a slightly different path with its 3D TV launch. The company announced Cell TV, a full-blown Internet TV, which also offers 3D content. When 3D content isn’t available, Toshiba’s new converter would convert any kind of 2D content- games, movies or sports – into real-time 3D.

The television offers video conferencing with built-in microphone and a video camera. Cell TV also offers users the capability to download streaming content from internet.

Samsung

Samsung unveiled 3D-ready DLP HD Television series. The size of the HD TV is 55 inches, and claims up to 1080p of speed. What makes the Samsung 3D TV stand out is its thinness with other on the camp.

LG

LG too showcased its 3D TV range, Infinia LED HDTV series. LG LE9500, the company’s flagship model in the 3D range, is available in 55 and 47 inch models. With a depth of just 0.92 inches, LG LE9500 can be ranked among the slimmest 3D TVs. The TV comes with integrated wi-fi system, and offers Skype and DivX technologies.

So all those 3D buffs get ready for really cool 3D experience right in your living room in the coming months. Have a great week 😉

Last week I blogged about “Apple – iSlate” tablet, It is still speculative though if Apple will launch a Tablet PC on January 27 or not. However, a slew of products are already ready to steal Apple Tablet’s thunder (if it gets launched). Aiming to bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops, this new novel category of mobile devices has suddenly swamped the technology industry. Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Dell, Motorola, Asus, MSI and Lenovo are among a barrage of companies showing off these thin, touchscreen, multimedia devices at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

In terms of functionality, these wireless gadgets — called Slate or Tablet — can broadly stream video, download music, surf the Web and play games. Here’s looking into some of the hottest Tablets unveiled at CES.

Motorola

Motorola Inc demonstrated a prototype media tablet that could be ready commercially by the fourth quarter. The prototype has a 7-inch screen, runs on Google Inc’s Android operating system, and has room for 32 gigabytes of external memory. It carries a chip from Nvidia Corp and a modem from Motorola. We can anticipate it being a $300 device In CES it was demonstrated how the tablet could stream movie trailers wirelessly, and said the device could also download and store video to watch later.

Dell

Dell Inc showed off a small slate computer that it could bring to market this year, exploring yet another type of device designed for computing on the go.

Dell’s Slate has a 5-inch screen and runs on Google Inc’s Android mobile operating system. Dell declined to provide other details, or say definitively if the new gadget, which looks like a large smartphone, would hit the market. Dell as i remember also recently released its first smartphone, the Mini 3, which is on sale in China and Brazil.

With the screen attached to the laptop base the IdeaPad U1 is powered by an Intel CULV processor, but when detached it becomes a tablet smartbook powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 1GHz processor.

Hewlett-Packard

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer unveiled a new Hewlett-Packard Co Tablet computer. The Tablet — also known as a Slate, is a multitouch touchscreen one-piece portable computer without a physical keyboard. Ballmer said the HP tablet will be available later this year. He also gave a glimpse of two similar devices from Archos and Pegatron Corp.

Sony

Sony launched Dash, a tablet-like device which the company calls a “personal Internet viewer” at the CES. The device costs $199, and has approximately a 7-inch screen that gives users access to over 1,000 specially written Internet applications, for news, calendaring, weather, sports, social networking and more.

Dash also has built-in stereo speakers as well as a USB port so that users can transfer content to it from their PCs. Within the device, an internal accelerometer allows for two viewing angles: upright, ideal for a table or nightstand; and tilted, perfect for a countertop.

The main difference between Dash and other tablets, like the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 is that Dash does not run on an OS. Sony Dash is more of a large touchscreen portable media player than a computer.

Asus

Asus plans to launch its 10 inch Tablet-style netbook this year. The company first showed off the Eee PC T101 at CES 2008. Since then the device has undergone some changes and the new version looks slicker.

Eee PC T101MT has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor, and it can run Windows 7 Starter or Home Premium. The Starter version will come with 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive, while the higher end model will pack a 320 GB HDD and 2GB of RAM. Users will also get 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 35 hr battery that Asus claims is good for up to 6.5 hours of run time. The Tablet PC has a capacitative multitouch display.

MSI

MSI demoed two new touchscreen concpet notebook tablets at show that could hit the shelves as soon as June.

The dual screen notebook, as it is currently called, runs Windows 7, and offers a 10-inch dual touch panel with virtual keyboard and ebook experience according to the Taiwanese company. Storage is offered via SSD and the processor is Intel’s Melow low power solution.

So the tablet war as begun and hope to soon how many of them to be forced into a customer and how sucessfully it’s going to be in the coming days…

New Year is on the door and Yesterday I tweeted on “Google’s much-anticipated new phone, the HTC-designed Nexus One, could make its debut 2nd week of Jan.” for all Apple fans here is a good news for you, I know much of you wouldn’t even be aware of it, yes its the iSlate a.k.a Apple Tablet PC is all set of release by the coming months this 2010. I am just providing a exclusive sneek peek on the feature and rumors that are going in the tech industry on this in this week blog. First take a look at how the Apple iSlate looks like, I think it’s more of an IPhone but the difference should be you cannot put it in to your pocket 🙂 (think as a King size iPhone)

It is reportedly rumoured that Apple is holding a media event in San Francisco on January 26 at the Yerba Buena Arts Center, the same place where Apple chief executive Steve Jobs showed off new iPods , where the company is expected to make a major product announcement.

I have heard that the Apple tablet will offer a 9.7-inch screen and sell for $800, or maybe a 6-inch screen, and will sell for under $700 and also heard it will feature a 10.1-inch screen and retail for a cool $1000. As if that’s not enough, there’s a 7-inch model (price unspecified) in addition to the 10-inch tablet. The tablet will either run OS X or something like the iPhone OS. It will play HD video, read e-books, and save the newspaper industry. With all due respect, I’d expect any other tablet to do the same. Though this is a complete touch screen tablet, a tablet with a multi-touch feature: It may sound new to the tablet industry, but for the users? Of course this is expected. It wouldn’t be the image and likeness of the iPhone without a multitouch feat, wouldn’t it? Looks like the US Design Patent No. D504,899 is one for the Apple history books to add this up, also Apple had acquired iSlate.com, other pieces to the puzzle seemed to fall into place soon or later.

We are all not sure how Microsoft is going to feel about this, but perhaps the heated competition will spur sales of PC tablet devices from their current, sluggish pace. At least one thing’s for sure: once this device comes out, tablet devices are officially in. Here is video on how the navigation on the new Apple tablet will look like and also check out http://www.islate.org if you need more videos collections and patents on this: